1. [Field of the Invention]
This invention relates to an overhead door suspended from the top of an opening of a cabinet or the like and capable of being lifted until it is placed on the roof wall of the cabinet to keep the door open.
2. [Prior Art]
FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawing illustrates a known overhead door a designed to be lifted and placed under the roof wall c of a cabinet b (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-18528).
A know overhead door of the above described type is, however, accompanied by a number of drawbacks including that it has a rather complicated configuration of comprising a support rod d and a short rod e arranged for swinging the door a up and down as well as a spring f fitted thereto, that a slide assembly constituted by a slide rail g and a door wheel h is arranged within the cabinet to make it rather cumbersome to secure the door a to a cabinet b and positionally adjust the door a once it has been secured to the cabinet b and that the space available within the cabinet b is limited because it has to accommodate the door a within it.
Additionally, when the door a is opened, the cabinet becomes esthetically unattractive because of the exposed support rod d and spring f and, during the operation of opening or closing the door, the finger of the user operating the door may be accidentally caught and pinched by the spring f or between the spring f and the support rod d.
In view of the above identified problems and other problems of known overhead door of the type under consideration, it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an overhead door of a cabinet or the like provided with a set of appropriately dimensioned attachments including support arms and slide rails fitted to a cabinet such that the overhead door is placed on the roof wall of the cabinet as it is swung open and the door and attachments do not constitute any obstacles for the operation of storing and retrieving objects in and from the cabinet.
For the purpose of the invention, a number of tension springs may preferably be arranged in respective grooves on the inner surface of the door such that they may not be moved away from the door when the latter is swung open or closed to eliminate the danger of pinching a finger and they may decelerate the speed and lessen the load with which the door is swung open or closed.
Alternatively, the door may be movably held to the adjacent lateral walls of the cabinet not simply by means of respective support arms but by way of a damper disposed between the distal end of each of the support arms and the related lateral wall so that, when the door is closed from the open position where it is located on the roof wall, it is moved only slowly and softly due to the resistance or the damping effect of the damper against the torque of the door produced by its load.
Still preferably, an overhead door according to the invention may be provided with a combination of dampers and tension springs arranged at appropriate locations so that both the braking force of the dampers and the restoring force of the expanded springs may be exploited to decelerate the speed and lessen the load with which the door is swung open or closed and consequently no substantial effort is required for the user to open or close the door.
Alternatively, an overhead door according to the invention may be provided with a combination of dampers and coil springs arranged at appropriate locations so that both the braking force of the dampers and the restoring force of the coil springs may be exploited to decelerate the speed an lessen the load with which the door is swung open or closed and consequently no substantial effort is required for the user to open or close the door.
Still alternatively, an overhead door according to the invention may be provided with a combination of dampers, tension springs and coil springs arranged at appropriate locations so that all the braking force of the dampers, the restoring force of the expanded tension springs and the coil springs may be fully exploited to further decelerate the speed and lessen the load with which the door is swung open or closed and consequently no substantial effort is required for the user to open or close the door.